Testing setup before changing domains

Last updated September 08, 2017

After you deploy your service, but before you change your DNS entries to send your domain to our servers, you can check to see how your service is pulled through our network. Testing your domain can help you identify DNS issues or problems with your Fastly configuration.

Using the web interface

To use the web interface to test your domain on Fastly before you make a final CNAME change, follow the steps below:

Log in to the Fastly web interface and click the Configure link.

From the service menu, select the appropriate service.

Click the Configuration button and then select Clone active. The Domains page appears.

Click the Test domain link next to the domain you want to test.

Verify that your website appears in a new tab in your web browser.

Using command line utilities

To use command line utilities to test your domain on Fastly before you make a final CNAME change, you would:

Determining the IP address of a Fastly POP

Use the nslookup or dig command to determine the IP address of a Fastly POP.

TIP: For non-TLS requests, use nonssl.global.fastly.net. For TLS requests, use the custom TLS CNAME record provided by Fastly support. For more information about the Fastly TLS service, see our guide on paid TLS options.

The IP address (A record) is in the ANSWER SECTION of the dig results: 151.101.56.204.

Modifying your hosts file

You can temporarily add a static IP address and domain host entry to the hosts file on your computer. For example, if the domain you are testing is www.example.com and one of the IP addresses returned by nslookup or a dig command is 151.101.56.204, you would add this entry to the file:

Testing your domain

Test your domain to see how Fastly pulls it through our network by restarting your browser if it's already running, and then typing your domain in the address field. You should now see the updated domain in the address field indicating requests are being sent to the Fastly POP.

Alternatively, you can test the domain using a ping command to verify that your domain is being served by a Fastly POP address. In this case, ping www.example.com would display the Fastly POP address 151.101.56.204.

Be sure to remove the host entry from your hosts file after you make CNAME changes to point your domain to Fastly.

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